1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a modular system for the erection of apparatus for the display of merchandise, consisting of one or more columns as the base element, with merchandise racks and/or connecting and support elements attached to it.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Modular systems for the erection of display apparatus, either in the form of individual, free-standing racks or multi-segment display wall panels or display islands with a multi-sided configuration, are part of the prior art. As a rule, the wall-mounted base elements or the base frame elements comprise tubes with locator holes or slots so that merchandise racks or connecting elements, linear panels or partitions can be fastened on.
In such systems, the tubes used for the wall and frame elements must have a relatively large diameter to provide strength and stability, so that, display equipment usually appear to be heavy and bulky when placed in a relatively tight configuration.
To design display equipment so that it presents a light and airy appearance to the customer, the prior art also includes wire grid systems, whereby the wire grids must be relatively narrow to provide the required stability. This system, too, can only give the desired light and airy appearance in large showrooms if the individual display devices are not too close to one another or are not grouped too densely.
An alternative embodiment of the invention relates to a connecting element for supports and brackets, which preferably has four round rods, which are fastened preferably at 90 degree intervals along the circumference of perforated discs forming a rod bundle, whereby the ends of the round rods always project beyond the terminal perforated disc.
Rod bundles are part of the prior art for frames for the display of merchandise. To construct multi-purpose display equipment, it is desirable to be able to connect the rod bundles as supports and brackets in many different ways.
For framework connections, the prior art includes hexahedral nodes, into which rods can be inserted and preferably, screwed. The construction of such frameworks is relatively time-consuming, since the nodes are screwed together with the framework rods which are generally designed as tubes.